What We Eat

Our Food Philosophy

We believe in the power of REAL FOOD.

My rules for food are that it cannot contain chemical additives, artificial herbicides and pesticides, genetically modified anything, or be irradiated. It also has to be unprocessed enough that it can be reproduced in a home kitchen. Factory food need not apply.

We do occasionally buy packaged foods to preserve my sanity. Grass-fed hot dogs and some dried fruit is a go, extruded cereal and Twinkies are not.

Speaking of Twinkies, food must also decompose. If I leave it out on the counter, it should not outlive me.

Jennifer: After gorging on boxes of Russel Stover chocolates, Doritos, donuts, and everything in between in my youth, I have learned to eat food that improves my health and relationships rather than destroy them. It’s very hard to be a good mom, wife, daughter, and friend when your brain chemistry is going haywire and your body feels broken.

That said, I do cheat on occasion but pay for it with unpleasant symptoms when I do it too often.

Katie: My daughter is lucky enough to not have to overcome an addiction to most SAD (Standard American Diet) foods. We were on the gluten-free, casein-free bandwagon after she was born in 2008 after developing symptoms of food allergies.

We went a little too overboard with gluten-free grains and processed foods until April of 2010, and it caused additional health problems that you can read about here. I stumbled on the GAPS diet (Gut and Psychology Syndrome – gut healing protocol) and traditional foods and have never looked back.

Miss Katie now enjoys snacks and treats along the lines of frozen peas, fruit, and ‘ice cream’ made from frozen bananas. Sugary treats are very rare, because they cause behavioral problems, deplete much needed nutrients, and cause gut issues.

A note for parents: They’re not ‘treats’ when they make your child systemically unhappy after eating them.

Hubby: My husband was diabetic and on “maintenance” medication until last year. His insulin resistant is almost reversed thanks to REAL FOOD and continues to improve with the new addition of nutrient therapy and natural detox aids.

He learned to avoid foods that his body couldn’t process about 13 years ago and is further refining that list based on his allergy test results (not posted yet) and symptoms I can read when he eats certain foods. That gave him an advantage over me in cutting out most of the SAD foods that are an American staple.

After marrying a future witch doctor and beginning a REAL FOOD diet, the only thing that affects his blood glucose levels now are an abundance of sugary or grain-filled treats and extreme stress. That makes me get-down-and-shake-your-booty happy.

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Fermented foods and drinks are an important part of our diet, and we consume them regularly. We drink kombucha, beet kvass, raw milk kefir, and occasionally raw apple cider vinegar for digestion. We also eat lacto-fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and pickles.

Natural sweeteners are a small part of our diet. Local raw honey, dates, and maple syrup are our main sweeteners. Hubby generally uses stevia.

No food dogma police here!

There is no judgement here if you eat grains or don’t, have kids that live on baked goods and yogurt, are new to the REAL FOOD world, or have navigated its waters for a while. We are all on our own journey and respect its path.